Through A Wizards Book
by MatteusAndronic
Summary: Josh McQueen lead a relatively normal life living in the small South Dakota town he grew up in. He lived with his younger sister who was a full time mother of two and college student, and played a pen and paper game known as Wizards every Friday with her and maybe a couple friends. After buying a campaign setting he hadn't heard of, Josh's life is a little different.


Lillian sat, staring off into the distance, her eyes not settling on one single object. She was standing above Smithing, South Dakota, more precisely, a bookstore above the city. It was probably the most unnoticable store on the trip of small stores on the main road. Her short red hair and glowing eyes made contact with the store owner, Burt. He didn't see her, nor would he have. Humans only see what they want to see, and Burt most certainly didn't see anything out of the ordinary on that warm August morning. Smiling slightly, Lillian landed in the alley behind Burt's Books, assuming the identity of a rather unassuming girl.

Walking into the store, an ordinary person wouldn't see anything odd. No, not in the least. What they would see, were ten evenly placed bookshelves, lining the walls and a rather large oak table in the center, a pile of Wizards book in the middle. Lillian immediately spotted the singlemost important book, _A History of Morhune_ laying on top of the pile. Burt saw a rather short girl who appeared to be in middle chool enter the store and pick up that very book in particular, and put her hand on the cover as if she was trying to recollect a certain part of the contents of the book.

"May I help you?" Burt asked, a smile on his face. He enjoyed it greatly when people of her assumed age group took an interest in his old collection of gaming 'novelties' as he called them. The girl looked at him, a look of what seemed to be shock on her face.

"No, I was just remembering my father played this game, a very long time ago. I used to look at the pictures." Lillian replied, trying her best at an innocent tone. It apparently worked, because Burt put his coffee down and smiled. "Yes, Wizards made plenty of good pen and paper games once upon a time. Too bad their newer versions of the game are for those who lack imagination." He said, trying to make small talk. It wasn't often someone came into his shop. Even less often were the few who actually knew about Wizard's games.

The spell was in place, and Lillian said farewell to the shop owner, who seemed almost sad that she was leaving without making a purchase. She didn't stop at any other shop on her way to the park. There was a portal to her homeland there, and she wasn't about to be late for her meeting with the Elder. The Wurm of Awakening was not very patient, even taking into consideration he had waited for the chosen one to come along for almost a millenia now. Lillian sighed. She some times really disliked being an errand girl to an Elder.

Josh stood in the park with his nephew and baby niece, who was cooing in the stroller in front of him. Damien, who was four, was pretending to be a pirate on the little dock in the small pond. "Josh! Josh! Come play with me!" The young boy called, waving his arms as if he were trying to take flight.

"I gotta keep an eye on your sis, or I would little man. Maybe you can join me and your sister in the game we'll be playing later, I mean if you want." Josh replied, running a finger through his thick dark brown hair. His brown eyes, which were so lightly colored they almost appeared reddish, smiled when he did at the boy. He loved his niece and nephew, and did his damndest to keep them happy when his sister was in class. But tonight, was the night Tabs and Josh got to sit down and play a game they had left virtually untouched for about five years: Dungeons Quest. Or as Josh called it, the game where he won and got to drink for victory.

Damien soon was yawning after a couple hours at the park, and Josh patted him on the head. "C'mon kiddo, let's get back to the apartment and get some dinner in your belly. I'm sure Tamara is hungry too." As if on cue, the infant began to whimper, which soon turned into a wail. She seemed to be saying, "Yes, I am very hungry. I would LOVE teeth in which to eat a burger with." That was at least Josh's interpretation of her wails of hunger. As they walked past the bookstore, Josh had a sudden urge to go in and buy a campaign setting, and he hadn't done that it what seemed like forever. "Hmm. Damien, let's check the bookstore out before we go home. I think I might have just enough money to get you a picture book too." At that, the young boy squealled with joy, bolting for Burt's Books without a second to lose.

Burt sat in his usual place behind the counter, his eyes fixed on the day's newspaper. "Howdy Burt! How goe it?" Josh called to the back, his voice almost echoing off the bookshelves themself. "It goes Joshua. Now, how may I help you today?" Burt replied, eyes still fixated on the atricle he was reading.

Pushing the stroller to the table, Josh spotted a five dollar campaign setting, _A History of Morhune_. "Hm, I think I'll take this, and a My little Horsie coloring book," Damien stomped on his uncle's foot at the last few words. "Ouch, okay, I'll take this and the most boyish coloring book you have!" Josh said happily, leaning down to give his nephew a noogie.

"Alright, that'll be six twenty five," Burt said, ringing the books up. Josh fished around in his pocket for a moment, but only had four dollars. "Awe man. This bites! I could have swore I had a little bit more." Josh exclaimed at his find, annoyance evident in his tone. Burt suddenly seemed to be miles away, and he looked at Josh blankly. "You can have _A History of Morhune_, free of charge. the coloring book, on the other hand, will be one fifteen." Josh smiled again, and thought to himself, _This day couldn't get any better!_

The apartment was spotless when Josh and the kids arrived, which surprised him because he had left it in a rather sad state. "Hey Taaaaabs! You home?" Josh called as his younger sister rounded the corner from the kitchen to the living area. "Yes, yes I am home. Now, where are my babies?" Tabitha cooed at her two children. Damien immediately began recanting the tale of him being a pirate, and Tamara gurgled hungrily in her stroller.

"And then, I fought off the sea monster! It didn't stand a chance!" Damien practically yelled excitedly. Tabitha smiled, her dark brown hair split in the middle, showing off her heart shaped face. She was pale, and liked wearing darker colored clothing, so in her college circles she was a 'goth' or a 'punk'. Either way it didn't matter, not to her brother or kids anyway. "So, how did Philosophy go?" Josh inquired as he began to rummage through the cabinets looking for baby formula.

"Oh my god, why did you have to remind me? Doctor Cross is so strict with his homework policy. You remember that paper I had been working on last week? Well, he took 20 points off for it being late a day. A day!" Tabitha exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air with a smile on her face despite the anger she felt towards the teacher. Damien smiled with her, not quite undertsanding what exactly was going on. Tamara was doing a pouty face, and her milky eyes were tearing up. "When did she eat last Josh?" Tabitha asked, looking at her brother.

"Well, I fed her around three and thought she would be okay for a couple hours. She didn't seem to mind it until I mentioned something," Josh said, laughing a little, "She really is a smart ass baby." A magazine flew over the counter and nearly hit Josh square in the face. "Hey! You know I meant to say butt!" He retorted jokingly.

After Josh put together a small dinner, and feeding Tamara, he looked at his sister with a grin. "Guess what I got for free today?"

"What? Was it, I dunno, a DVD or something?" Tabitha replied, turning on the TV to the weather. "Noooo, even better!" Josh said, pulling a bag from behind him that clearly stated BURT'S BOOKS.

"No way, that old geezer gave you a free book? Remember when you would go draw... Erm. Adult naughty bits in his books?" Tabitha said with a laugh, gently taking the book from her brother. "Whoa, I guess he did. _A History of Morhune_ huh? A campaign setting? We never use those."

"Well, I figured it was time for a change and all that jazz. Plus, it looks fairly simple, and not too gorey because I kinda told Damien he could play, too." Josh said, quickly holding his hands up in case another magazine decided to fly in his general direction.

Tabitha looked at him, and then looked at her son. "Hmm, well, I don't see why it could hurt. As long as we don't go into too much detail on some stuff, should be perfectly fine." At that, Josh and his nephew cheered. Now all they had to do was set up the table, and find the dice bags.

(_Author's Note: Now, if you are not familiar with pen and paper games, you may be confused as to why a dice bag would be needed. See, there are seven types of dice, all of which are needed in order to play a pen and paper game, though there are variations to that fact I am sure. Wizards, is a game using the d20 system. So a 20 sided dice is needed for basically everything except wiping your butt. And even then, there could be some kind of skill to do that properly!)_

Damien sat at the head of the table, and Tamara sat in her high chair while Josh and Tabitha tried to find two more chairs that weren't being used. After finding a couple, they too, sat down. Josh was trying to think of a way to introduce this campaign, because for him, the introduction was the part that snagged players into wanting to play more of it. Turning to the first page of the book, the lights flickered. "Mama, what was that?" Damien asked in a hushed voice. "It was nothing baby, the electricity is just acting up is all." Tabitha replied, focusing on her character's ability scores, attempting to memorize them.

Josh read the first couple of lines in his head, and began to read out loud. "Outside the village of Waverly, tragedy struck one of the most prominent clans of Dragon Slayers in the area..." The lights began to flicker on and off, but Josh tried to continue, "The head of the house was found dead at the hand of his first born son, who had been eying the position of head for at least a year. Shortly after that, werewolves form the Forest of Ire attacked relentlessly, only ceasing when a man of almost giant stature appeared on the horizon, wielding a sword of incomparible power..." His voice trailed off as it began to echo.

Out of no where, the book began reading itself. _"The man of great height had brought along his sister and her children, hoping to make a name for themselves in the well known city of Waverly. They did not know of the werewolves onslaught until they arrived to a nearly broken outer wall, and piles of were-creatures dead outside..." _The words were lifting themselves off the page. Josh saw his sister and her kids starting to drift away, but he reached out and grabbed all of them in one go. "Hang on! I am not sure if this is a special effect or a flashback of that acid I did when I was 16!" Josh said loudly.

The apartment lost power, but the story kept flowing out of the pages into the air, glowing like sigils around them, Josh felt his grip loosening, and stared in awe as he saw himself in dull plate armor, killing a dragon. Then the pain began. It started as a dull throbbing pain in the base of his back, like it had been bruised some how, then it turned to a sharp stabbing pain of no compare. "GAH!" Josh screamed, his voiced echoing off into the darkness. He felt himself rolling around in sheer agony, but didn't know if he was on a solid enough surface to try and escape what was hurting him. He felt bones lengthen in his torso, legs and arms, and then knew nothing else, other than a dull receeding pain in his back.

His eyes were blurry when he woke up, and he couldn't see too well in the bad lighting. "Tabs..." Josh murmered, "Oh god, what is that smell?" It hit him like a bag of bricks, the smell of decay. He rubbed his eyes and tried looking around again. He saw a city, whose walls were ablaze and peole were throwing bodies off of the top of the wall. "Why does this sound an awful lot like something you just read?" Tabitha's voice asked from behind him.

She looked freaked the hell out, but Damien seemed excited. "This is how this game is played? How cool!" He cried with delight, and Josh tried to smile, but it came out weaker than what he had hoped. Tamara was wrapped in swaddling clothes in Tabitha's arms. Which were covered with thin leather bracers. "Erm, nice dead deer on your arms sis." Josh said sarcastically. He had been anti-animal killing for about a year now, didn't even eat it. Which had caused him to loose about fifteen pounds, but he was okay with it. Tabitha looked him up and down. "Well nice metalwork you're wearing." She stated, as she sat down watching the scene before them unfold.

As Josh was checking out his near gear, he also noticed that some of the people being thrown off the walls, weren't quite dead yet. They were contorting and stripping their flesh off, so it could be replaced by fur. Lots and lots of fur. The spectacle nearly made Josh wanna hurl. "Dude, do you SEE that?" Josh asked his sister, who nodded grimly in reply. "Josh, please tell me you chloroformed me and the kids and just dragged me to a theatrical reinactment or something. Anything but what I know you're going to say." Tabitha was almost pleading.

"Yeah sure, chloroform, reinactment whatever." Josh muttered. They hairy things had just noticed them, and were making their way towards his family. Swallowing loudly, Josh turned to look at Tabitha. "Listen, I'll keep them distracted, and I want you and the kids to haul some major ass and get into that town. Go when I say to!" Josh kissed his sister on the forehead, and turned to charge at the wolf things.

He had uderestimated the wolf things. There were three of them, and while two of them pinned him to a small oak tree, one of them went after his sister. "NO! It's me you want!" Josh screamed, his voice slowly getting more angry. The two pinning him down seemed taken aback, because for s plit second, they loosened their hold on his arms and legs. Which was exactly long enough, and allowed him enough mobility, to head but the one to his left. It seemed stunned, and before its friend could react to that, Josh was sprinting towards his sister, dragging it for about fifteen feet on what he assumed to be gravel.

The one who was chasing Tabitha was relentless. It wouldn't stop running after her, no matter how fast she ran towards the city with both children in her arms. Damien was crying loudly, and Tamara didn't know what was going on, so she too was crying. Josh, even with his now abnormally long limbs, was barely in range to tackle the monster to the ground. _"There has gotta be some way damn it! I won't let it hurt them!"_ Josh thought to himself. He closed his eyes, and whether he knew it or not, when he opened them they were glowing a dark red color. He roared loudly and jumped on the wolf things back, beating it with his plated fists. "YOU SONOFA-" Josh was cut off by the one he had dragged leaping into the fray. Elbowing the newcomer in the gut as hard a he could, Josh continued his almost blood thirsty assault on the one who gave chase.

Blood soaked his face and most of hihs arms and chest, but when he was done, Josh felt more powerful than he had before. Tabitha crept out of a bush to meet him, her eyes now noticing every detail, and every movement, of the landscape around them. A figure on top of the wall yelled down at them, "OI! Did you really just beat a couple werewolves to death? With ya barehands and everything?" Josh looked up, seeing what could only be described as the most annoying looking man ever. He had an upturned mouth with the tips on his top front teeth poking out the bottom, and beady black eyes staring down at them, even through the shaggy, unkept brownish hair. "Yeah, so what? I'm sure someone else has done it before too." Josh called back up, feeling more exhausted by the second.

"Well, lemme check with the guards, and see if we can't get ya inside, yeah?" The man called back down, and Josh at that point already wanted to knock his teeth in. He hated violence, unless it made annoying people, less so.


End file.
